Latest news with #UCCM
CBC
15-05-2025
- Politics
- CBC
UCCM Anishnaabe Police move ahead on their own as negotiations on federal funding continue
Social Sharing The police chief of a small Indigenous service on Manitoulin Island says uncertainty about the organization's eventual funding formula isn't holding him back from making big changes now. James Killeen was sworn in as chief of UCCM Anishnaabe Police four years ago, and has been battling the federal government over the terms of the First Nations and Inuit Policing Program for much of that time. He's not alone. UCCM along with Treaty 3 and Anishinabek Police had refused to renew their contracts in 2023, saying chronic underfunding puts officers and the communities they serve at risk. In response, the federal government stopped funding them altogether. The impasse ended up in court with a federal judge ordering emergency funding to flow. Almost two years later, court-ordered negotiations continue to try to come to a new funding formula that would put First Nations police on equal standing with their non-Indigenous counterparts. The federal government provides 52 per cent of funding for First Nations police with the province providing 48 per cent. The three police forces, represented by the Indigenous Police Chiefs of Ontario (IPCO), are also challenging terms of their contract that ban Indigenous police from hiring specialized officers for drug or major crime investigations, or own their own buildings. At UCCM Anishnaabe headquarters in M'Chigeeng First Nation, Killeen says he vividly remembers the day he had to tell his staff and officers that their funding was cut. "It's a scary feeling when that was happening," he said. "I had a lot of nervous employees here, people saying what are we going to do? What happens? Do I need to look for another job? And I asked everyone to believe in what we were doing and to believe and to trust me and that we would get through this." Sergeant Todd Fox remembers that he was one of the nervous ones, at first, but is feeling more optimistic now. "I think we're making a lot of progress," he said. "I think our chief and his command staff along with other IPCO chiefs of police are fighting the right fight. And it ultimately boils down to the safety and security of our people that we protect." Killeen hasn't been waiting for the outcome of negotiations with the federal government to take steps to provide better service to communities. In December, UCCM hired a specialized canine officer. Constable Nicholas Beaudry and his Belgian Malinois Ben are trained to help execute search warrants, track missing people and other general duties. It's a service that is now closer to home for communities that would have previously had to wait hours if they were in need of a canine officer. Since December, they've been on 30 calls. It's reassuring to people like Sheldon Miigwans of M'Chigeeng to have police closer in case of emergencies. He brought his grandchildren to a bike rodeo being put this week on by special constables with UCCM. "There's a lot of drugs and assaults, violence on the reserve. and the police handle that right now," he said. "You have to wait longer at certain times for the OPP to get here coming from Little Current or wherever they are." As for drugs, Killeen wants to improve safety for his officers, who often work alone due to understaffing and respond to violent incidents in remote areas. The service has 30 officers, which he wants to double to 60. He is actively recruiting police officers to investigate drug and major crimes, and he's looking after their safety as well. Killeen's just built a drug processing unit separate from the main offices so any substances police recover can be weighed and tested there under controlled conditions. He says until now, officers would bring in the substances, potentially fentanyl and other opioids, and test them at their desks, cleaning up as well as they could. "That's just not acceptable," said Killeen. "Look at the drugs that we're dealing with. They're high potency drugs that if you're exposed to them, especially if you're a person that's never taken illicit drugs before and then you're exposed to it, it can affect you very, very quickly and you can get very ill from it. You could even die from a high level exposure." Also on the drawing board, plans for a new headquarters, where staff will have their own offices and not have to double up. Special constable Matt Bebonang was handing out bike helmets and teaching safe biking to children at the bike rodeo and said his passion is to serve his communities as a full-fledged officer. He's proud his force is involved in raising the issues facing Indigenous policing. "It shows that even the small people, I guess small people in that sense of policing, need to stand up to get our equitable funding and have our funding on par with every other service in Ontario here," he said. The changes are not going unnoticed. Inside the community centre at a meal celebrating police week, Andrew Corbiére filled out a survey outlining what he'd like to see from his police service. He thinks they're doing a good job and starting to make a dent in the criminal element that targets First Nations. "I'm beginning to feel safe with the recent arrests they've been making," he said. "It's really putting the word out there. It's sending that message to the bad guys that they're not messing around, that they're here to stay and that they're gonna fight, that war on drugs and crime and do whatever they can."
CTV News
09-05-2025
- CTV News
New drug strategy in Manitoulin Island community sees big results
A new drug strategy for a community on Manitoulin Island is starting to see positive results, with big seizures of fentanyl and cocaine as well as the arrest of numerous suspected dealers. $35,000 cocaine and fentanyl seized in Wiikwemkoong First Nation $35,000 cocaine and fentanyl seized at a weapons call in Wiikwemkoong First Nation where a Brampton man was arrested. February 28, 2025 (Wikwemikong Tribal Police Service) Because drug activity has been a big concern, Wikwemikong Tribal Police Service launched its comprehensive community drug strategy last December. 'We did the gap analysis, conducted studies, community consultation on what was really required to mitigate a lot of things that were happening on the Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory and in Manitoulin Island,' Ron Gignac, police chief in Wiikwemkoong First Nation, said in a video interview earlier this week. Gignac said his agency is working in partnership with nearby police services on the community drug strategy efforts. This includes Ontario Provincial Police, United Chiefs and Council of Manitoulin Anishnaabe Police Service (UCCM) and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). 'We have a really good, combined forces collaborative effort on evidence-based policing and intelligence-led policing,' he said. 'Crime Stoppers has been pivotal in what we are trying to do with our drug strategy. Our community … collaboration, that all has a lot to do with our success.' Wiki bust Police in Wiikwemkoong seized cocaine worth about $15,000 and seized 3D guns following a raid of a residence Thursday morning in the community. (Wikwemikong Tribal Police photo) Ways of transporting drugs identified Most of the focus is on motor vehicle traffic, since that's how most of the drugs come into the community and on the island. The upcoming addition of automated license plate readers will help identify criminal activities even faster. But it's not just motor vehicle traffic -- police are also intercepting drugs with snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) and boats. Wiki bust A search warrant executed on Daawema Road in Wiikwemkoong led to the seizure of a large cache of cocaine, weapons and the arrest of 11 people, police said on Tuesday. (Wikwemikong Tribal Police photo) 'We have evidence of drug drop-off locations with … marine activities, with ATVs coming off of the territory and going to pick up drugs in a pre-stashed location,' Gignac said. 'So we're aware of these things … we have intelligence.' Using combined forces with OPP and RCMP, marine patrols have been stepped up to improve border integrity and to provide a deterrent. 'We know that it's a short distance from Point Grandin, Killarney, Birch Island,' he said. Community effort With the new strategy in place, Wikwemikong police have seized $346,000 in illicit drugs in just a few months. $20K in cocaine seized by Wikwemikoong Tribal Police Service $20K in cocaine seized April 16, 2025. (Wikwemikoong Tribal Police Service) And the police chief said more people are sharing and reporting information. 'The whole theme comes back to 'see something, say something,'' Gignac said. 'And I believe that people are comfortable in seeing the result of what's been happening with the Wikwemikong Tribal Police Service and the strategies that we have initiated.' New, online crime reporting To make non-emergency reporting easier and more accessible, he said the agency is launching its first online reporting system next week. 'We call it 'Connect, Report and Protect,'' Gignac said about the online portal that will be available 24/7. 'Sometimes people feel more comfortable reporting things online, so we wanted to make sure that we weren't missing that data from online reporting or that information that we could receive to help us out furthering our investigations.' The information reported online will be reviewed by WTPS staff and assigned to an officer for follow-up. 'I think it's going to capture the data we might be missing in certain cases because we all know that the younger generations tend to do things more online,' the police chief said.'So I think we'll be able to build that capacity into the final phase of what we're trying to accomplish here, which is information sharing.'
Yahoo
24-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Ukrainian emigres face uncertain future in Manitoba on anniversary of invasion
Nearly 30,000 Ukrainians have settled in Manitoba since Russia's full-scale invasion of their country in February 2022. Now, challenges with their documents and hurdles in the permanent residency process have many of the newcomers anxious about their future in Canada. Leonid Isakov, 29, and his wife, Tetiana Isakova, 32, say they try to book an appointment online with the Consulate General of Ukraine in Toronto, but automated messages repeatedly tell them the bookings are full. The couple's calls to the consulate also go unanswered. They need an appointment to renew Leonid's passport, which expires next Decemberr. Without it, he can't extend his open work permit to live and continue working as a heavy-duty mechanic. "I need live here, because if I no live here, I come back Ukraine, and I dead," Leonid told CBC News at his home in Carman, a community about 60 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg. Leonid Isakov and his wife Tetiana Isakova are anxious to have Leonid's passport renewed, so he can apply for an open work permit extension to stay in Canada. (Rudi Pawlychyn/CBC) The couple and their eight-year-old son, Mark, have called the town home for nearly two years. "We want to stay, because in Ukraine … not safe now. Not safe for us, for my son," Tetiana said, adding they're nervous about their future. The Ukrainian Canadian Congress of Manitoba (UCCM) says many Ukrainian newcomers are dealing with a host of paperwork problems, including expiring passports — especially men of military age from 18 to 60 years old. Newcomers who arrived in Manitoba under the Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel (CUAET) program have until March 31 to apply for study visas or work permit extensions. Ukrainian men can't get their passports renewed in Canada unless they're registered with the Ukrainian military through an app called Rezerv+, the UCCM's Ostap Skrypnyk said Thursday. "Some people are having difficulty accessing [the app] … [and] some people are worried that if they do register, they'll get a draft notice so they're caught in a little bit of a situation that they can't get consular services from the Ukrainian government until they have that." Leonid feard renewing his Ukrainian passport because men of military age are prohibited from leaving the country. "We [are] stuck in this situation," Tetiana said. Ostap Skrypnyk with the Ukrainian Canadian Congress of Manitoba says many Ukrainian newcomers — especially men of military age from 18 to 60 years old — are dealing with a host of paperwork problems, including expiring passports. (Rudi Pawlychyn/CBC) Last month, Immigration Minister Marc Miller said that while he would not force Ukrainian newcomers to go back to a war zone, he did not agree to the UCCM's call to automatically renew their emergency visas. Instead, he said, they must apply for student visas or work permits if they are interested in staying longer as temporary residents. Skrypnyk says he's optimistic Ukrainian newcomers won't have to leave Canada if they don't want to. WATCH | Ukrainian newcomers face hurdles in the permanent residency process: "We met with Minister Miller, the immigration minister, a couple of weeks ago when he was in Winnipeg, and I think they're willing to look at solutions within the law or within the regulations to have some understanding of people [who] have these little timing hiccups." Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has told CBC News it might consider exemptions to the passport requirement under exceptional circumstances, but applicants must explain why. Reduction in provincial nominee slots Last year, Leonid and Tetiana filed an expression of interest with the Manitoba provincial nominee program (MPNP), which offers a pathway to permanent residency, but they say they have yet to get a response. Yuliaa Venhryniuk, 26, is also waiting in the applicant pool. The lawyer arrived in Winnipeg in 2023, and got a job at a laundry company before landing one in her field as a legal assistant. Applicants have to have worked full-time for an employer in Manitoba for at least six consecutive months to be eligible for the nominee program. The province periodically chooses from people who've expressed interest, who are then invited to apply to the program. The draws are not random but determined using a ranking scale, with points awarded for a range of factors. Venhryniuk changed jobs before the six-month mark and says she missed her opportunity under the last Ukrainian newcomer draw last year, despite now having a high score. Getting her legal education recognized in Canada through further studies would be more affordable and easier as a permanent resident, she said. "It's worrying me, because … you want to make some plans for [the] future, right?" Venhryniuk said. Yuliia Venhryniuk says she hopes she's accepted into Manitoba's provincial nominee program, which will help her get permanent residency. (Submitted by Yuliia Venhryniuk) Many Ukrainian newcomers in Manitoba will find the nominee program even harder to get into due to a federal reduction in nominee slots, Skrypnyksaysd. Manitoba is only getting 4,750 slots through the program in 2025, which is half the number it received last year. Manitoba continues to negotiate with Ottawa about its allocations, a spokesperson for provincial Immigration Minister Malaya Marcelino said in an emailed statement on Friday. "It's adding to the anxiety, on top of which then they also have to worry about what's going on in Ukraine, right?" Skrypnyk said. Leonid Isakov, his wife Tetiana Isakova and their eight-year-old son, Mark, play a game of Jenga at their home in Carman, Manitoba. They've called the town home for nearly two years. (Rudi Pawlychyn/CBC) As for Leonid, he says he'll go to the Ukrainian consulate in Toronto without an appointment to resolve his passport woes if it comes to that. Asked what he would do if that doesn't work, he replied solemnly: "I don't know."
CBC
24-02-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Ukrainian emigres face uncertain future in Manitoba on anniversary of invasion
Social Sharing Nearly 30,000 Ukrainians have settled in Manitoba since Russia's full-scale invasion of their country in February 2022. Now, challenges with their documents and hurdles in the permanent residency process have many of the newcomers anxious about their future in Canada. Leonid Isakov, 29, and his wife, Tetiana Isakova, 32, say they try to book an appointment online with the Consulate General of Ukraine in Toronto, but automated messages repeatedly tell them the bookings are full. The couple's calls to the consulate also go unanswered. They need an appointment to renew Leonid's passport, which expires next Decemberr. Without it, he can't extend his open work permit to live and continue working as a heavy-duty mechanic. "I need live here, because if I no live here, I come back Ukraine, and I dead," Leonid told CBC News at his home in Carman, a community about 60 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg. The couple and their eight-year-old son, Mark, have called the town home for nearly two years. "We want to stay, because in Ukraine … not safe now. Not safe for us, for my son," Tetiana said, adding they're nervous about their future. The Ukrainian Canadian Congress of Manitoba (UCCM) says many Ukrainian newcomers are dealing with a host of paperwork problems, including expiring passports — especially men of military age from 18 to 60 years old. Newcomers who arrived in Manitoba under the Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel (CUAET) program have until March 31 to apply for study visas or work permit extensions. Ukrainian men can't get their passports renewed in Canada unless they're registered with the Ukrainian military through an app called Rezerv+, the UCCM's Ostap Skrypnyk said Thursday. "Some people are having difficulty accessing [the app] … [and] some people are worried that if they do register, they'll get a draft notice so they're caught in a little bit of a situation that they can't get consular services from the Ukrainian government until they have that." Leonid feard renewing his Ukrainian passport because men of military age are prohibited from leaving the country. "We [are] stuck in this situation," Tetiana said. Last month, Immigration Minister Marc Miller said that while he would not force Ukrainian newcomers to go back to a war zone, he did not agree to the UCCM's call to automatically renew their emergency visas. Instead, he said, they must apply for student visas or work permits if they are interested in staying longer as temporary residents. Skrypnyk says he's optimistic Ukrainian newcomers won't have to leave Canada if they don't want to. WATCH | Ukrainian newcomers face hurdles in the permanent residency process: "We met with Minister Miller, the immigration minister, a couple of weeks ago when he was in Winnipeg, and I think they're willing to look at solutions within the law or within the regulations to have some understanding of people [who] have these little timing hiccups." Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has told CBC News it might consider exemptions to the passport requirement under exceptional circumstances, but applicants must explain why. Reduction in provincial nominee slots Last year, Leonid and Tetiana filed an expression of interest with the Manitoba provincial nominee program (MPNP), which offers a pathway to permanent residency, but they say they have yet to get a response. Yuliaa Venhryniuk, 26, is also waiting in the applicant pool. The lawyer arrived in Winnipeg in 2023, and got a job at a laundry company before landing one in her field as a legal assistant. Applicants have to have worked full-time for an employer in Manitoba for at least six consecutive months to be eligible for the nominee program. The province periodically chooses from people who've expressed interest, who are then invited to apply to the program. The draws are not random but determined using a ranking scale, with points awarded for a range of factors. Venhryniuk changed jobs before the six-month mark and says she missed her opportunity under the last Ukrainian newcomer draw last year, despite now having a high score. Getting her legal education recognized in Canada through further studies would be more affordable and easier as a permanent resident, she said. "It's worrying me, because … you want to make some plans for [the] future, right?" Venhryniuk said. Many Ukrainian newcomers in Manitoba will find the nominee program even harder to get into due to a federal reduction in nominee slots, Skrypnyksaysd. Manitoba is only getting 4,750 slots through the program in 2025, which is half the number it received last year. Manitoba continues to negotiate with Ottawa about its allocations, a spokesperson for provincial Immigration Minister Malaya Marcelino said in an emailed statement on Friday. "It's adding to the anxiety, on top of which then they also have to worry about what's going on in Ukraine, right?" Skrypnyk said. As for Leonid, he says he'll go to the Ukrainian consulate in Toronto without an appointment to resolve his passport woes if it comes to that. Asked what he would do if that doesn't work, he replied solemnly: "I don't know."
